


Sometimes the World is Scary

by BotchedExperiment



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Anxiety, Emetophobia, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Panic Attacks, Phobias, Sickfic, Vomiting, david tries his best, emetophobic max, germaphobic max, kind of, this is a mess ok
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-05
Updated: 2019-02-05
Packaged: 2019-10-22 22:37:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17671418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BotchedExperiment/pseuds/BotchedExperiment
Summary: How can he help a camper who doesn't want his help? He thought he knew everything about dealing with Max by now, but maybe not. So, he sits silently, listening to Max struggle not to cry.





	Sometimes the World is Scary

**Author's Note:**

> Me: I'm not gonna write any more phobia fics that trope is dead
> 
> Me to me: project your childhood anxieties onto a character who clearly deals with enough already.

David accepted a long time ago that kids get sick. Even at a summer camp secluded from the outside world, it still happens once a year without fail. Someone ends up ill, and David's dealt with it so many times that he likes to think he's always prepared for it.

Even when it happens in the middle of dinner at the mess hall.

It isn't long before everything's cleaned and sanitized, and the mess hall is back to its usual use of harboring hyper, ravenous children. He exhales, wiping sweat from his forehead as he scans the room. Hm… something isn't right. Before he can think about it anymore, though, Gwen comes over to him.

"I didn't sign up for this," Gwen grumbles. "Cleaning up puke is not in my fucking job description, David."

David shrugs, not taking his eyes off the room. "It's just part of working with kids, I guess!"

"Yeah, well I-"

"Have you seen Max?"

Gwen's mouth quickly closes, and she joins him in scanning the room full of loud campers. "I don't think I've seen him since Nikki started throwing up." She groans, "Do you think he's up to something?"

David isn't sure, but the thought of dealing with a Max Scheme today kind of scares him. For once, he doesn't have that kind of energy.

Gwen catches onto his uneasy look and gives a sigh, patting his shoulder. "Go look for him. I can handle the brats for a while."

It takes a few minutes - at most - to seek out the usually-cunning camper. David's relieved to find Max sitting with has back against a tree, knees pulled up to his chest as opposed to sitting _in_ the tree with a jug of bees ready to drop (again). Relieved until his sees the camper's face, that is. Tear tracks. He suddenly feels guilty for assuming that Max was planning something mischievous.

"There you are!" David offers a smile, but earns an annoyed grunt in return. "What are you doing all the way out here, Max? You're missing dinner!"

"Leave me alone, I'm not hungry," he growls, rubbing his eyes with his hoodie sleeve.

David's at a loss. What could have happened between the beginning of dinner and now? Has Max been like this all day and he just hasn't noticed? He kneels down and goes to lay a hand on the camper's shoulder, but Max moves away in a panic.

"Don't touch me!"

David wastes no time pulling his hand back. "I'm sorry, I-"

"Just go away, David!" His voice cracks at the end. The tears are back.

"Max…" But Max isn't paying attention, too busy fighting the tears in his presence. He can't just leave Max like this no matter how much the camper wants him to. It's his job to fix these things, David just has to figure out how, right? So, the counselor throws his hands up with a sigh, and plops down onto the ground a couple feet away from Max.

Max scoots a little further away and wipes at his cheeks. His breathing - David notices - is agitated and quick. What could have gotten him so upset?

"What's going on, buddy?" David finally tries, his voice gone soft and quiet.

"Nothing."

"Well, _something's_ bothering you!"

"Yeah," a sniffle. "You. Fuck off." He curls up tighter into himself, hiding his face behind his knees.

David smiles sadly. How can he help a camper who doesn't want his help? He thought he knew everything about dealing with Max by now, but maybe not. So, he sits silently, listening to Max struggle not to cry. David just wants to make it stop, to do _something_ helpful.

"Are you feeling alright?" Maybe Max is sick too? Maybe that's why he's not acting like himself. "If you're sick, you should let me-"

That doesn't help. Max turns his back toward David, now getting more upset.

"Or maybe you're hungry? I don't think you had a chance to eat dinner, did you?"

"I'm not going back in there."

A weird edge to his voice. Fear? David sometimes forgets that Max can be scared, he's so (worryingly) apathetic in dangerous situations. David contemplates his next move.

"Did something happen back there that upset you?"

A scoff.

"Do you-"

"No, I don't want to _fucking_ talk about it, David!"

David's mouth forms a thin line as he thinks about what to say next. "Help me out here, kiddo. I'm not going anywhere, I can't just leave you out here by yourself." Max stays silent, but finally turns enough so David can see his face again. "…Does it have something to do with Nikki getting sick?" It's a shot in the dark, which is why David is so surprised when Max's body language changes.

He lifts his head a bit, takes a deep breath, and nods in his exhale.

"She's fine, you know. It happens!"

Max gives a weak chuckle. "I know she's fine, David," he bites. "I watch her eat bugs on a daily fucking basis." David chooses to ignore that for now, but keeps a mental note to supervise Nikki a little more closely during their next adventure in the woods. "I just…" Max sniffs and swipes his hand under his nose. He's back to his usual scowl now, which David takes as a good sign. "I don't like it."

"Don’t like what, Max?"

Max gives a halfhearted shrug and fiddles with a stick on the ground next to him. "I dunno. When people… throw up and stuff, I guess."

Ah. David thinks he's beginning to understand.

David nods, letting out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. Max seems to have relaxed a little too, finally loosening up from his curled position. "Can't get sick…" Max adds quietly. The stick snaps.

What is he supposed to do? Promise there's nothing to worry about? It's a summer camp full of kids - contagion is bound to happen to some extent no matter how hard David and Gwen work to prevent it. Now that David has a chance to think about it, he remembers times where Max was absent or in sudden distress when someone was getting sick. Nikki isn't the only camper who ingests things she isn't supposed to, it happens too much.

Max's yawn grabs David's attention once again. "Can I go to my tent? M'tired."

The fact that he's actually asking permission catches David off guard. Upon further inspection, the poor guy looks exhausted now that he's come down from his evident anxiety.

"Maybe you should get some dinner first? I didn't see you eat a lot today."

Max shakes his head. "I'm not hungry. - I said don't touch me! Fuck off, David!"

David retracts his hand, not even realizing what he was trying to do until Max yells at him. He's so used to physically comforting someone, he needs to learn not to- ugh. David mentally chastises himself for making the situation worse when he just wants to _help._

"You-" Max stands up, eyes wide, his breath quickening. "You cleaned it and- _fuck_ …" he leans against the tree with one arm, seemingly lost once again.

 _Oh._ He's really starting to understand, now. Granted, David's never met a child with the particular fear.

"I won't touch you, promise. But Max, I wore gloves, I washed my hands… you don't need to worry about…" A sigh. Max isn't listening, he's just getting agitated again _. He's doing this wrong._ "I'm sorry," David breathes out, defeated. "You can go back to your tent if you want."

Max wastes no time running off, and David wastes no time berating himself for his poor handling of the situation.

David returns to the mess hall and supervises the kids as they clean up and take their trays to the kitchen, Gwen gone to get Nikki settled. He starts making a sandwich without much consideration, and grabs a brownie leftover from dinner, setting them both on a paper plate. Max probably won't touch the sandwich, not when he's given dessert as well, but David has to at least give him the option of real food.

Once the kids leave to go on whatever adventures before lights out, David heads to the tents.

"Knock knock!"

There's a grunted response.

"Can I come in?"

Some grumbling, and finally a "I guess."

Max is on his cot, reading some comic book that might have been borrowed (or stolen) from Neil. He glances up when David enters, but then goes back to reading. He looks more tired than he did earlier.

"I brought food!"

"Still not hungry, David," Max mutters in annoyance.

He sets the plate on the small table inside the tent. "I'll leave it here just in case, alright?"

Silence.

"Max… I want to apologize for scaring you earlier."

More silence.

"I'm sorry, and I'll be more careful about those kinds of things in the future."

He thinks he knows how to keep a fear of germs at bay. Well… he hopes he does. David can't stand the thought of Max being in that kind of distress again. Some of the kids' phobias were nothing big to worry about. A fear of heights or lizards is something he can encourage them to tackle on their own. Max's - on the other hand - isn't something that can be so easily helped.

"Are you okay now?" David adds.

There's a long pause, and David starts to think Max is just going to ignore him completely.

"Yeah."

It's enough for David to know that he was heard. That's something. If only Max would tell him these things in advance, before they resulted in situations neither of them knew how to handle. Of course, would he really be _Max_ if he actually opened up about what he considered to be a weakness?

David takes from the short answers that Max doesn't want him there, so he prepares to leave.

"David…"

The comic book closes and slides onto the ground from Max's cot, landing next to a familiar stuffed bear. He sits up and runs a tired hand down his face before finally looking at David. His eyes are still red-rimmed from crying and remnants of anxiety are still present in his voice, but now he just looks more exhausted than anything else.

"Yes, Max?"

"I'm sorry too. For yelling at you or whatever." His gaze averts once again and he starts to play with his hoodie strings. "You didn’t know."

Max doesn't divulge any more information about his emotions, and David is completely fine with it. He's sure Max has already given away more about himself today than he ever wanted to in his entire lifetime, so David leaves him alone.

\-----

Camp Campbell isn't exactly known for its fantastic first-aid facilities.

Meaning: Nikki is sleeping in the counselor's cabin tonight so they could keep an eye on her, and keep any stomach bug away from the other campers. Gwen's preparing her own bed for Nikki when David walks in, and it's impossible for him not to insist he sleep on the floor instead.

Nikki is in high spirits for someone who's sick. She happily watches a movie on their TV until it's time for bed, and promises to wake Gwen or David if she needs anything. Neither counselor trusts that she won't try to run off in the middle of the night, but the day's excitement has them too exhausted to worry about it.

David expects to be woken up by Nikki at some point.

He doesn’t expect to be startled awake by a banging at the door.

"David!" _bang bang_ "Wake the hell up! Come on!" _bang bang bang._

David yawns and pulls himself up off of the floor. Gwen groans, covering her head with her pillow and goes back to sleep. Nikki isn't disturbed by the noise one bit.

David sees the last camper he expected to wake him up in the middle of the night.

"Neil? What's-"

"Max threw up and I think he's having a panic attack or something?"

David rushes out of the cabin before Neil can finish his sentence.

"Hey buddy," David tries to keep a calming tone as he enters, despite the rapid breathing and shallow coughs he can hear from the dark tent. He props the flap open, letting in enough moonlight to see Max's shaking frame. The camper doesn’t acknowledge his presence, David wonders if he even knows Neil left to get him.

Max chokes out a sob and a protective arm wraps around his middle.

David has to walk around the puddle of vomit on the tent's floor to get near Max. He must not have been feeling good earlier. David has a feeling the camper chalked it up to his anxiety as much as he himself did. Until now, that is.

He knows this time not to try to touch him, and instead tries talking him through it. He's done this with Gwen before; it's probably not any different with a kid, right?

He tells Max that things will be alright soon and to take a deep breath, and the camper has a rough time at first. After a long while though, he manages to match David's breathing. Glassy, confused eyes finally look up at the counselor, as if to ask /'when the hell did you get here?', but another voice interrupts before he can.

"Max…? You okay?" Neil is still standing near the entrance of the tent, wringing his hands nervously. He doesn't seem to understand what freaked Max out, but he looks like he wants to stay.

A breathy laugh. "Dumb question." The shakiness hasn't left Max's voice, but he seems okay for the time being.

Neil makes a point to start talking to him, a conversation that starts with, "So _that's_ where my comic book went."

The fond bickering about how he 'definitely didn't steal anything' seems to do Max some good, keeping his mind off of whatever he's feeling, and David takes the opportunity to use his sleep-fogged mind to assess the situation.

As David's eyes adjust to the dark, he can see certain signs that things are still not fine. The plate he left before remains where it is, but there's the smallest nibble on the brownie (from Max, and not a woodland creature, he hopes). Max really must not have been hungry.

Max is shaking a little too much. Shivering, almost, on a humid summer night. David hesitantly reaches up to feel the camper's forehead, and this time Max doesn’t try to move away. In fact, he continues his conversation with Neil _('Admit it, that superhero guy is way overpowered' 'Take it back!')_ , only making an annoyed noise as David's arm gets in the way of his sight.

All hopes that Max's throwing up was just anxiety were gone. His skin is hot to the touch, and yet he's starting to wrap his arms around himself as if he's freezing. Looks like they have one more sick camper to look after, David realizes with a deep frown. He wonders how he's going to do it. Max obviously doesn't handle getting sick well, and their resources are limited.

David leaves long enough to gather supplies, and returns to Neil sitting next to him on his cot. Max's tentmate looks like he could fall right back to sleep, but instead he stays with his friend, still talking to him as if it's normal to have a comic book debate with someone at 2AM right after they've puked.

Max begins fidgeting awkwardly as he watches the counselor clean up the tarp floor of the tent, so David makes sure to remind him that it's happened before. "Don’t worry about it, Max. Really!"

Max doesn’t look so sure about that 'not worrying' part, but Neil distracts him before he can think about it further.

"How stupid was Nerris' elf costume yesterday?"

Max gives a hoarse laugh. "Oh my God, it was the _worst."_

David has a feeling Max is going to be just fine.

**Author's Note:**

> I dealt with a lot of dumb phobias and anxiety as a kid and I really wish I had an adult who understood and knew how to deal with it instead of brushing it off hahahaha oof


End file.
